Influence of changes in the Spanish labor market during the economic crisis (2007–2011) on perceived health

Abstract

Purpose

We analyze the influence of the dramatic changes in the Spanish labor market during the crisis on the perceived health of the Spanish population.

Methods

We use the longitudinal Living Conditions Survey database and multilevel longitudinal logistic models between 2007 and 2011, before and during the economic crisis in one of the European countries most affected by its consequences.

Results

Unemployment (OR 1.75; p < 0.001), job insecurity (OR 1.38; p < 0.001), and being part of a household with severe material deprivation (OR 1.87; p = 0.004) increase the risk of having worsened perceived health. Available income, on the other hand, is a protective factor (OR 0.72; p < 0.001). Public expenditure policies have little impact on the perceived health. Labor market reforms reducing the degree of job insecurity and unemployment, together with income transfers to those at greater risk of social deprivation, can be more effective in improving the health of the population than the increase of aggregated social or health care expenditure.

Conclusions

This study provides evidence of the influence that unemployment, job insecurity, and poverty exert on the perceived health of individuals, with data collected in Spain after the onset of the financial crisis. In addition, after analyzing public social expenditure, only expenditure on FPS seems to influence self-reported health, although to a very limited degree.

Notes

Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank Sociedad Española de Salud Pública y Administración Sanitaria (Spanish Society for Public Health and Health Care Administration, SESPAS) for distinguishing a preliminary version of this article with the Best Public Health Paper Award during the XXXVI Health Economics Conference (Murcia, Spain).

Funding

This work was supported by the Health Department of the Regional Andalusian Government (2013–2015) under Grant PI-0682-2012.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there has been no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

In accordance with Spanish applicable regulations contained in Law 14/2007, of Biomedical Research, the current investigation does not constitute an experiment that is subject to this law, as there has been no intervention that could be classified as biomedical, therefore this work does not require the approval of an ethical committee by the University of Granada or by government of Spain. The authors have followed in this work the rules of good scientific practice and the ethical standards of the Quality of Life Research.

Informed consent

This work has been carried out with an anonymized and open access database elaborated by the National Statistics Institute of Spain.

Supplementary material

References

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